York Prep made its membership appeal to the SCHSL; what was the verdict?

York Prep was granted conditional status into the South Carolina High School League on Thursday. The SCHSL voted 12-1 in favor of granting the Rock Hill-based public charter school membership into the league.

Details as far as classification and region placement are yet to be determined. York Prep will play as an independent beginning the 2018-19 school year and be eligible for postseason in 2020-21 school year.

“When I got there there was no conference or league that we were playing in,” York Prep athletics director Mike Drummond said. “It gives kids something to play for.”

Currently, York Prep fields teams for 10 sports, most notably high school basketball. York Prep opened in 2010.

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The Patriots' sports teams should be able to join an SCHSL region in 2020, the same year as the organization's next planned realignment (after the one this fall). It's not clear which region York Prep would join, but it's possible the Patriots would slot into some version of Region 4-3A, which currently includes Indian Land, Chester, Fairfield Central, Columbia and Camden. Indian Land will almost certainly move up to the 4A classification in 2020.

SCHSL membership will open a new chapter in York Prep's sports history. The school opened in 2010 and its sports teams haven't belonged to a governing body or association. That made scheduling difficult and inconsistent and left Patriots teams on the outside when neighboring SCHSL member schools commenced region and state playoff action. York Prep brought in new athletic director Mike Drummond in February with the clear goal of getting the school's athletics program into the SCHSL.

But York Prep -- when it was operating outside of a governing body -- was able to attract players to its burgeoning boys' basketball program from across the state since it had no rules to follow. By joining the SCHSL, that ability is lost to a large degree.